A technique for mounting a tile or tiles onto a wall surface or the like with a magnet or magnets is known, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 09-111997, for example.
The tile disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 09-111997 is composed of a molded body, which is formed from a thin metal plate, and a magnetic body mounted on the back surface of the molded body. The magnetic body enables the tile to be attached to an iron plate. Therefore, it is possible to mount and remove the tile. In addition, the molded body of a thin metal plate provides a solid-looking tile surface.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 09-111997 is silent as to the intended use of the tile. It is speculated that the tile may be used for a nameplate with a company name inscribed thereon or for a doorplate at a residence, for example. When the tile is used for such purposes, the lengthwise (or widthwise) dimension of the tile is typically from 50 mm to 500 mm.
Among tiles, there is a mosaic tile. Mosaic tiles are tile units that provide a sophisticated design appearance as a large number of tile pieces, each measuring several millimeters to several tens of millimeters, are arranged.
When the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 09-111997 is applied to a mosaic tile, the following problem arises.
In order to mount a magnetic body to each of the tile pieces of the mosaic tiles, the magnetic body needs to be prepared in a number equal to the number of the tile pieces. This increases the number of times the magnetic bodies are mounted, and in turn increases the mounting cost. Furthermore, each magnetic body has small dimensions, and therefore it is troublesome to mount the magnetic bodies. This further increases the mounting cost. Consequently, the mosaic tiles become expensive.
Expensive mosaic tiles find limited usage and demand.
In consideration of promoting the widespread use of mosaic tiles, there is room for improvements.